Businessman, Politician, Governor of Puerto Rico, Governor General of the Philippines, US Army General, and World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He was the oldest child and son of 26th US President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. He attended Groton School at Groton, Massachusetts and Harvard College (now Harvard University) at Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in 1909. He then became a successful businessman, taking positions in the steel and carpet businesses before becoming the branch manager of an investment bank. In August 1915 he attended a summer military camp at Plattsburg, New York that provided military training for business and professional men at their own expense and was later given a commission as a major in the US Army Reserve. When the US entered World War I in April 1917 he was called to active duty and was sent to France where he became a battalion commander, eventually being promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded the 26th Regiment of the 1st Division. In July 1918 he was gassed and wounded at the Battle of Soissons in Northern France. In February 1919, after the end of the war, he was one of the founders of the soldiers' organization that eventually would become the American Legion. He returned to the US and remained in the US Army Reserve. IN 1920 he was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving until March 1921 when he was appointed by US President Warren G. Harding as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He came under congressional scrutiny during the Teapot Dome Scandal after his authorizing the transfer of oil leases from the US Navy to the Department of the Interior but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. In 1924 he ran on the Republican ticket for Governor of New York and was defeated by the Democratic incumbent governor Alfred E. Smith. In September 1929 he was appointed by US President Herbert Hoover as Governor of Puerto Rico, serving until 1932, when he was appointed by Hoover to be the Governor-General of the Philippines and resigned in November of that year and went to North Africa. In 1935 he returned to the US and first became a vice president of the publishing house Doubleday, Doran & Company. He then became an executive with American Express and also served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations. In 1940 he attended a military refresher course offered to many businessmen as an advanced student, and was promoted to the rank of colonel in the US Army. He returned to active duty in April 1941 and was given command of the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, the same unit he fought with in World War I and later that year he was promoted to the rank brigadier general. In 1942, after the US entered World War II the previous December, he was sent to North Africa where he participated with his unit in the assault on Oran, Algeria in November, the beginning of Operation Torch. During 1943, he was the second-in-command of the US 1st Infantry Division under Major General Terry Allen as it fought in the North African Campaign. His lack of not following uniform regulations and unorthodox approach to warfare drew the ire of Lieutenant General George S. Patton and he was reassigned. He participated in Operation Husky, seeing action in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943, commanded Allied Forces in Sardinia, and fought on the Italian mainland, and during the latter he served as chief liaison officer to the French Army in Italy for General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In February 1944 he was assigned to the staff of the US 4th Infantry Division in England to help lead the Normandy invasion. After several verbal requests to the division's commanding officer, Major General "Tubby" Barton, were denied, he sent a written request and was ultimately approved. Despite a heart condition and arthritis that forced him to use a cane, he led the assault on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, and was the only general on D-Day to land by sea with the first wave of troops. During the assault he remained cool, calm, and collected and inspired all with humor and confidence, reciting poetry and telling anecdotes of his father to steady the nerves of his men. A little over a month after his D-Day landing, he died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 56. Ironically, on the day of his death, he had been recommended by General Omar Bradley for promotion to the rank of major general. The following September he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. His citation reads: "For gallantry and intrepidly at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 6 June 1944, in France. After 2 verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brig. General Roosevelt's written request for the mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches. He repeatedly led groups from the beach, over the seawall and established them inland. His valor, courage, and presence in the very front of the attack and his complete unconcern at being under heavy fire inspired the troops to heights of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. Although the enemy had the beach under constant direct fire, Brig. General Roosevelt moved from one location to another, rallying men around him, directed and personally led them against the enemy. Under his seasoned, precise, calm, and unfaltering leadership, assault troops reduced beach strong points and rapidly moved inland with minimum casualties. He this contributed to the successful establishment of the beachhead in France." His other military and foreign awards and decorations include Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star (with two oak leaf clusters), the Purple Heart, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with four campaign stars), the World War Two Victory Medal (posthumous), the French Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the French Croix de Guerre, and the French Liberation Medal (posthumous). In 1955 the remains of his youngest brother Quentin who was killed in aerial combat in France during World War I were removed from their original burial location and reinterred next to him at the American Cemetery in Normandy. He was portrayed by actor Henry Fonda in the 1962 film "The Longest Day." His life, political views, and actions are documented in Ken Burns' 2014 PBS miniseries "The Roosevelts." (bio by: William Bjornstad)